PSP World

Explore the World of Red Steel 2

Ubisoft has been given another chance to resurrect its promising but flawed swordplay game, Red Steel. The sequel, which is due this march, takes place in the somewhat unusual setting of the Western USA. After all, the desert around Las Vegas is not the kind of place we'd expect to see sword-wielding samurai chopping their way to the top of a criminal syndicate. but indeed, the action of Red Steel 2 will play out around a fictional western town called Caldera, and players will fight in the desert, canyons and train yards int he surrounding area.

Red Steel 2 is quite a gamble for Ubisoft, considering how poorly other more mature FPS style games have performed recently on the Wii console. We know that the team have upped the accuracy of the Wiimote, a major complaint from the first game. Now lets learn a little bit more about the setting where the action will take place, thanks to a Q&A with the game's creative director, Jason Vandenberghe.

Is Caldera the whole land and not just the city?

Caldera is a city in what is generally known as the "Nevada Territories". It's kinda northwest of Las Vegas, off the beaten path a bit, in what's affectionately known as the "High Desert" (a.k.a. the Mojave Desert) - an elevated, hot, flat, chunk of the Rocky Mountains.

The land surrounding Caldera is named "Caldera County" as well, and one big crater was the most interesting landmark (a "caldera", for the curious, is another word for a big sinkhole or crater).

So, no, Caldera isn't the whole land. The "world" of Red Steel 2 is the Red West. In fact, "the Red West" is a phrase used to describe the whole western part of North America.

Will there be other places besides desert in the game?

But of course. The whole story takes place in and around the city of Caldera, and there's a lot of different kinds of environments in that place. Ancient temples, ramshackle slums, desert, huge modern freight-moving systems... it's a real city. Then you'll roll on out into surrounding canyons, where you'll find a pueblo-style mining town, a huge semi-automated strip mine, old, abandoned underground tunnels, an ancient ancestral monastery / temple clinging to the side of a cliff...

But if you mean "do you go anywhere cold, like the moon or something" the answer is no.

Will there be weather effects in Caldera (rain, sandstorms, etc.)?

Yes. When we were conceiving the 'mood' for each level, we tried to give the weather, time of day, and general atmosphere for each space a unique feeling, one that would fit the gameplay for that location. Honestly, there were a few times where our ambiance people (lighting, VFX, audio, etc) showed us some stuff that we were convinced wasn't possible on the Wii... but they did it.

Will there be night, dusk and dawn in the game?

The gameplay takes place over several days, and the Sun in the Red West rises and sets just like it does in the real world. ;) What I mean to say is that there will be a few night levels, yes.

Are there living people anywhere? I know the inhabitants left but are there any remaining?

Yes! Yes indeed! Crucial, key, power-granting inhabitants! You should be discovering that in the near future, in fact what I can tell you is there are four inhabitants of great importance the player that you will encounter repeatedly, get missions from, buy cool powers from, and who, in general, will help convey to you the Story. That is, assuming you don't skip the cutscenes.